Thread: More stupidity

Originally Posted by zimmer

I am sure some of the older forum members may have experienced this, and don't come across all perfect and say "nope":
- Aged ~ 12 yrs, visiting parents' friends property on the edge of town. Farmland out the back. Given 15 shot tube mag 22 to go on my own and get a rabbit whilst olds drank tea and yakked. Happened on several occassions/visits. Had received firearm instruction on many outings with Dad (ex serviceman).
- Aged ~ 15 years, on L&S farm behind Taupo. Dad and mate headed off with one 22. Mate and I given box of bullets and other 22 and headed off in opposite direction. Met up later and compared numbers shot (in those days teaming with rabbits). Jokingly chastised if the ratio per bullets fired wasn't 1:1.
- Aged ~ 14 years. Staying on L&S farm during school hols. Out every day on my own shooting rabbits with farm's 22 Gecado Plinker. Meeting mate from adjacent farm of similar age also armed. More rabbit dead.

Cringe now when I think back. Supervision, even down to the finer point of how it should occur up close - NOPE.
How common in those days - pretty common from my recollection and comparing notes with mates.

No need to cringe. It was very different back then Zimmer. At 12 I was shooting rats with a .22 at the dump in Newells Road in Tokoroa and I sure as hell wasn't dropped off out there. Kid, bike, rifle across handle bars. No one thought twice about seeing a kid with a rifle back then. Despite the over regulated world we live in, I bet there are still places in this country where kids that age and younger are still shooting bunnies by themselves and are perfectly safe in doing so because they have been drilled in how to properly handle a firearm since they were old enough to walk across a paddock with their old man. For those of you that have grown up wrapped in the cotton wool of modern nanny state legislation I would note that this is not me being an advocate for illegal activities, it is just the pragmatist in me saying that it will still be happening.

Originally Posted by Rushy

No need to cringe. It was very different back then Zimmer. At 12 I was shooting rats with a .22 at the dump in Newells Road in Tokoroa and I sure as hell wasn't dropped off out there. Kid, bike, rifle across handle bars. No one thought twice about seeing a kid with a rifle back then. Despite the over regulated world we live in, I bet there are still places in this country where kids that age and younger are still shooting bunnies by themselves and are perfectly safe in doing so because they have been drilled in how to properly handle a firearm since they were old enough to walk across a paddock with their old man. For those of you that have grown up wrapped in the cotton wool of modern nanny state legislation I would note that this is not me being an advocate for illegal activities, it is just the pragmatist in me saying that it will still be happening.

Indeed. Thee was quite a different attitude and those kids clearly had a level of maturity that was acceptable. ( I would go as far as suggest a rural upbringing perhaps)

But todays society has had a significant attitude shift too. Back then most people knew what rifles did, and understood their function. If you were walking in town with a firearm slung over your shoulder, they knew that maybe you did not want to leave it in the vehicle for whatever reason. Or that you were popping into town on the way to a hunt etc. They trusted you to know that it was safe and that you had a valid reason for having it with you. Nowadays they are more likely to phone 111 screaming MURDER, MURDER, MURDER every time they see a canvas gunbag......We seem to be breeding drama queens rather than sensible people.

But its not all bad. The same attitude back the also seemed to apply to drink driving. Even as late as the 80s it was considered unlucky if you got caught driving drunk. The car seemed to know its own way home......Now the attitude if you get caught is more "you idiot, why were you dumb enough to think you should drive?". Note that the law has not changed much. It was illegal then as much a sit is illegal now, but the attitude towards it being acceptable or unacceptable has changed.